Stargate: The Colony Project: Somewhere to Forget
by DragonReader
Summary: The story of a brand new colony based on Stargate. Very first time ever to attempt a fanfic or story of any kind.R&R but please no flames...just constructive critism. Thanks
1. Chapter 1

Airman First Class Damien Gordan, 24 yrs old, was on Earth for a medical and pysch evaluation the day the IOC went to the Gamma Base with SG1. It wasn't until the next day when he was scheduled to return that he found out it had been destroyed. Just that further shock almost broke him…again. And then the flashbacks returned. He tried to take deep breaths and count backwards from 100 but the image of helping to bring Dr. Frasier's lifeless body back to the Stargate while dodging the Jaffa firing at them still haunted him.

Right then and there, AFC Gordan decided he had had enough action and adventure. He didn't know what the Airforce would do with him but he didn't care right then. He just wanted to go somewhere where he could forget. So he asked for leave to go to visit his elderly grandfather in Florida.

His grandfather knew something was bothering his youngest grandson, but also knew it was something he really couldn't talk about. Since they were both long time Star Trek fans, although differed between TOS and TNG, they decided to take in a nearby convention.

They were just getting settled in when Damien thought he saw someone he recognized. That bothered him all day until he realized that it was Master Sergeant Renusa and he remembered her from a group he had helped settle on base the other day. Damien asked his Grandpa to save his place in the autograph line and decided to say hello.

"Fancy meeting you here, Master Sergeant," Damien said as he stopped beside her.

She jumped as she turned to look at him, "And you are?"

"Oh, sorry, thought that you would recognize me. Airman First Class Damien Gordan," he said as he pulled out his dog tags "Usually stationed at Cheyenne Mountain Complex but currently…"

"Shh, don't let the whole world know" she said glancing around quickly. "Put those away! What are you doing here?"

"I was about to say that I am on leave. My Grandfather lives in Ocala and since I was visiting the same time as this convention here in Orlando we thought we would see if there was any update on the new Star Trek movie coming up."

"Oh, I thought that you had some new orders from the SGC for me."

"You mean you're here on official business?"

"If you don't know, I can't tell you," replied Renusa. "But if you want to know, you can go through your chain of command back at the SGC." Then she turned back to a table with a sign that said

OFF-WORLD COLONIES – HOW TO MAKE THEM REAL AND VIABLE

Damien headed back to his Grandfather then, but was thinking 'A Civilian Colony – now that would be nice and quiet.'

When Damien got back to the base the next week, he was asked which off-world site he would like to be stationed at. "I would like the quietest one, the one without any Jaffa shooting at me or bugs destroying it."

"Well, that takes out the Gamma base and the New Alpha base as we are sure it will be targeted by the Ori or the Lucian Alliance soon. And let's not forget that Ba'al is still out there. Umm, How about P5X-327?"

"What's that?"

"The New Colony we are starting. We've already got about 1500 people there, with 300 or so Army Corp of Engineers and scientists. You would a part of the 24 hrhour military security and Gate watch," his Sergeant said as he referred to the file. "A majority of the civilians are professionals, contractors and engineers. It's kinda funny, it seems that we are recruiting quite a lot from the science fiction fan community. They are both knowledgeable in the areas needed and open-minded about it."

Damien's jaw dropped. "That's why that Master Sergeant thought I was there with orders for her."

"What's that, son?"

"I was at a Star Trek convention in Orlando last week and happened to run into Master Sergeant Renusa. She really confused me when she thought I was there to bring orders to her from the SGC."

"Master Sergeant Renusa has been one of our best recruiters since the beginning of our little colony endeavor."

Damien stood to attention. "Sergeant, I would like to be assigned to this colony, please."

"Here is a brief on the planet and the colony. Pack up, you'll be shipping out tomorrow with the next shipment of supplies and colonists," the Sergeant said as he made notes in the Airman First Class's file.

As he stepped through the Gate and was directed to the base C.O.'s office, Damien thought 'seems like a nice place, this could be a new start for me.'

The Colonel assigned him quarters, "Hurry up and stow your gear, son. We have had a huge storm and everyone is needed to get the mess cleaned up. Then the only real need for personnel I have right now is in the Cafeteria, so I guess that will be you where you start out."

Damien stood and saluted, "Yes, Sir. Sounds nice and quiet here, sir."


	2. Chapter 2

The month of menial Cafeteria work punctuated by the new arrivals and the occasional Superstorm was beginning to wear on Damien. Being from Florida, he was used to strong storms and even stronger hurricanes, but these Superstorms were very different.

He had requested this assignment out of some twisted need to be safe. Hearing the exploits and adventures of all the newcomers while bussing their tables made Damien envious. Now all he could think about was somehow making a name for himself. He wanted to the one that all the others talked about.

The only friend that Damien had made, Senior Airman William Hunt, also known as Billy, was going be leaving soon, his month long Cafeteria rotation coming to an end. Billy found Damien in the kitchen washing the morning pots and pans. "Well, I am out of here tomorrow, you know. They finally told me that I'll be on Captain Sinclair Thomas's communication crew."

"Must be nice. Wish I could get out of here, but I'll probably still have these dishpan hands for years," Damien muttered.

"Hey! I was talking with one of the other guys about this new crew, you know, just getting the general 411 on them, and he said that Captain Thomas is always grumbling that he doesn't have enough people to do his job on time. Somebody is always getting hurt, tripping or getting sick being out in these rainstorms, you know. Maybe you could ask to be transferred there also," Billy said brightly.

"Sounds kinda risky, but anything's better than washing one more pan coated with oatmeal. I wish we could have grits now and then. But I guess that is just the South in me talking," Damien said, starting to feel better in spite of himself.

As he made his way to his Sergeant's office, Damien thought about how he would ask to be reassigned so soon after his initial assignment. He knew that his previous medical and psychological record would be a part of his file and it wouldn't look good for all the sudden transfer requests.

Knocking on his open door, Damien asked, "Sergeant, do you have a minute?"

"Sure, come on it, Airman," replied the Sergeant from his desk, "what's on your mind."

"Well Sergeant, I was wondering when I might be rotated out of Cafeteria duty?"

"I was wondering when you would be asking about that." Sergeant Butler replied, surprising Damien.

"Yeah, you probably think I am just trying to get out of something. I know what my file says about me and you're just waiting for me to get into trouble so that you can send me back to Earth," pouted Damien.

"No, actually, I knew that you were told when you checked with the base C.O. that this was just a temporary assignment, but with so much going on, and you seemingly content with the position, you had been left alone. But if you want we can send you back to Earth," pointed out the Sergeant sternly.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant, I shouldn't have reacted that way. It's…well... I have no excuse, just an explanation. Ever since I had that breakdown, it seems that everyone treats me like a little kid and sometimes it feels like it is easier to act like that little kid than not."

"I know, the SGC specifically and the Air Force in general just can't take the time to cater to everyone and therefore you were shuffled aside in many ways, but here, we are starting this new colony, I believe that we should be able to look out for the individual as well as the group," stated Sergeant Butler again surprising Damien.

Gaining a little courage, Damien asked," Sergeant, would it be possible for me to be rotated to the communication crew. Senior Airman Hunt is scheduled to transfer to that crew soon and we thought that maybe I could be also. We know that the Captain is always looking for able bodies and as you know from my record, I was at one point. An able body, I mean."

His Sergeant, Stanley Butler, thought that Damien would be a good addition to the communication team. The next thing that Damien knew, he was assigned to Captain Sinclair Thomas's wire laying crew. (Tip of my hat to TC, whose fanfics were the first I ever read and got me hooked.)

They were about five miles outside of the settlement alongside the River Tamm, heading towards the new hydroelectric station, when Captain Thomas called a midday halt for lunch. Damien thought about taking a short nap after eating his MRE but couldn't seem to settle down.

"Billy, come on let's see if we can look around a bit. This is just so boring. All we are doing is following this Big Honking Tractor and breathing the dust it kicks up."

"O.K. but, you're the one doing the asking, you know. I don't think that the Captain is in a good mood, something about that darned deadline again," said Billy rolling his eyes.

"Captain, is it O.K. if Billy and I take a little walk?" asked Damien with Billy next to him.

"Who? Oh, Hunt. Yeah sure, just make it a short one, we need this section done before nightfall or especially one of those blasted Super Storms," replied the captain distractedly while poring over his schedule and plans. "Don't forget your radios, boys," he called after them.

So after making sure that their radios were on and that their canteens were full of water, they started to explore the cliffs that butted up against the River.

They had only walked about the length of a football field when Damien sighted a dark cave about 20 feet up.

"Hey, Billy, look at that, will ya'. I wonder how deep it is. You remember I volunteered at the Florida Caverns State Park that summer after I graduated High School."

"Let's check it out, Mr. Expert," Billy said pointing up the small incline.

After climbing up to the entrance, he peered in while pulling out his flashlight. He slowly stepped into the full darkness of the cave, listening for any animal movement but only heard the dripping of water. The cave was roughly the size of the SGC Gate room and had a couple of doorway sized archways that seemed to lead to other chambers.

First Damien looked into the right hand side archway but it was completely full of water.

Then they looked into the left hand side and was amazed to find what looked like a table made from a stalagmite. As they were glancing around, he thought he saw cave paintings, but after a deeper look found the designs were etched into the stone walls. But the one thing that made him snatch up his radio to call his Captain was an etching that suspiciously looked like a ZPM. They were definitely going to need someone to translate this.

"Captain Thomas!" he shouted into the radio," this is Airman Gordon."

"Airman, where have you been?" Captain Thomas asked with an irritated tone to his voice. "We have been looking for you for over 30 minutes. You two need to get back here, its time to get back to work."

"Sir, we have found a cave with writing on the walls. You have just got to see this. We need to send for a translator. I just know that there is something about the Ancients in here," Damien said excitedly.

"Are you sure? We just can't send for someone like that for a wild goose chase, you know."

"Sir, I am marking the cave with a pile of stones. Please, just go about 100 yards towards the Hydro-plant and we'll show you this amazing cavern."

His Captain was suitably amazed and promptly put in a call to the base to speak with the base commander.

"Yes Sir, I know it's not easy to get him here, but I have seen some of the reports about other Ancient writings and this definitely warrants trying to get Dr. Jackson here, Sir."

"Yes Sir, I will have photos taken so that I can e-mail them to you through the Sat-link."

Captain Thomas turned to glare at Damien. "Well, Gordon, it looks like we are going to have the ever delightful company of Dr. Daniel Jackson. Here, use this digital camera. You better get some good pictures." Then as he turned away, "Why does it seem that everyone and everything conspires against me and getting this job done by the deadline?" Captain Thomas grumbled.

While taking the pictures Damien was deep in thought. 'Oh no, now what have I got myself into? Dr. Jackson is coming _here_. The last time I saw him was at the memorial for Dr. Fraiser. How will I face him? Maybe he won't remember me. Yeah, he won't remember me.'

The next day Damien found himself waiting to take Dr. Jackson to the cave. Dr. Jackson was as animated as could be expected about the writings on the walls, but Damien still wondered if he remembered him.

"Wow, this is some amazing stuff you have found. Uhm, what did you say your name was again? Uh, Gordon, right? Well, let's get my video camera out and make sure that the lights are right. Oohh, look at this symbol over here…it is so clear…I have got to get a good rubbing of that one. Oh this one too. This site is really well preserved, especially considering the amount of bad weather you all seem to have on this planet." Dr. Jackson babbled without letting Damien get a word in.

When Dr. Jackson stopped to get a cup of coffee from his thermos, he asked Damien to adjust the lights for a different angle, Damien couldn't help it. He just blurted it out.

"I'm just so sorry that I wasn't able to keep Dr. Fraiser alive."

"What?" Dr. Jackson said, caught completely off guard.

"I-I know you were close to her and I am s-sorry that I couldn't keep her alive," Damien stuttered almost hyperventilating.

"You were a part of her team, weren't you?"

Damien just stared blankly, already deep into the nightmarish flashback where the Jaffa multiplied exponentially and he seemed to be running through molasses.

Dr. Jackson called him several times, shook him by the shoulders then finally slapped him to bring Damien out of it.

Damien's eyes were still glazed over but he was rubbing his face and shaking his head to clear it.

"Listen to me, Airman, Dr. Frasier loved her job. She loved taking care of her 'boys' as she repeatedly said. She knew the risks like everyone who has ever stepped foot through the Stargate. And she never hesitated."

"B-But, I-I should have d-done more to save her."

"Didn't you listen to Colonel Carter's eulogy about her? Dr. Fraiser saved more lives than we could ever begin to count. Yes, we all miss her, but her spirit still lives on."

"But…"

"I don't blame you, I never did. The only ones I have ever blamed are the Goa'uld. They are the parasites and the ones who steal everything. They stole my wife, Sha're, they stole Skaara, they stole Sarah Gardner and killed Janet Fraiser. The Goa'uld are the ones to blame and they are almost completely gone. Hopefully Ba'al is the last of them."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: sorry I'm such a slow writer all...more to come as I write it...**

In the days following Dr. Jackson's astounding revelations toward Damien, Damien realized that he was starting to feel better about himself, maybe even starting to forgive himself. Although he hadn't known what the strange writing in the cave had been about, as soon as he had seen it he knew that others had to know about it no matter his personal consequences, and now his personal demons have been exorcised.

Now he wished he could have stayed with Dr. Jackson to help him in his research. The week following their discovery, Damien and Billy found themselves still following the Big Honking Tractor as it made its slow progress towards the hydroelectric plant. The BHT seemed to get tangled in the underground root systems of every tree the even came near. That meant the very physical labor of using pick axes and shovels to clear the blades of the BHT. Captain Thomas's attitude became sourer and sourer the longer it took.

Damien tried to push himself to be a good role model for the rest of the team and to stay in the Captain's good graces, but the physical labor was starting to wear down his slightly built thin body. Panting but still working, Billy and Damien needed to just move one more large tree trunk out of the way for the BHT to continue on its course.

"Billy, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I'm just going to sit on this log until I can catch my breath," Damien said as he dropped down on the log.

But Billy was looking around to find where Captain Thomas was at. "Watch it Damien! Captain Thomas might see you, you know. Ever since there was that rumor that they're changing to another site for the Hydro plant, the Captain has been angrier than ever, you know."

Just then Captain Thomas called a halt, "Gordon, Hunt, come here, I need to talk to you both. Everyone else take five."

"Now you've done it Damien," whispered Billy as Damien got up from the log and they both reported to the Captain.

"AFC Gordon reporting as ordered, Captain, Sir," said Damien, as politely as he could, when they had gotten to Captain Thomas.

Captain Thomas was pulling out his plans and his laptop computer. The laptop had been specially made to be foul weather resistant for durability to withstand the damp conditions of the frequent rainstorms here on the planet. "Wait here just a minute," was his reply. Taking out his radio to be heard over the noise of the BHT, Thomas called out to his 2IC, Second Lieutenant Johnny Gambol, "Hey L.T., when you get finished shutting down the BHT come on over here and bring Master Sergeant Martinez with you."

"10-4," was the answer over the radio.

"I just received a call from the Base CO's office," Captain Thomas said to Damien and Billy, startling them as they were prepared to wait until his 2IC got there. "The entrance to the cavern with the drawings and etchings that you found has collapsed and General Grier wants everyone who has seen it to report back to the base for a debriefing."

"Hey Cap'n, you wanted to see us," said Second Lieutenant Johnny Gambol with his lazy Bronx Italian accent.

"I've been ordered to report to General Grier's office for a debriefing along with anyone who has seen that cavern that these boys found a couple of weeks ago. So I am putting you in charge of this motley crew. Now I am counting on you to get this job done in my absence. I know your service record is coming up for the promotion review board next quarter and getting this done will look good for the leadership experience portion. Master Sergeant Enrique Martinez will be your 2IC." As Captain Thomas continued his turnover instructions to the L.T. and Master Sergeant, Damien noticed their stances gradually changing from relaxed attention to a proud attention.

"Say Captain, will you want to take the Jeep back to the base or will they be sending a transport for you?" asked Master Sergeant Martinez with a decidedly East L.A. Latino accent.

"Actually, that's a good question. While I contact the base, why don't you boys go collect your gear off of the F.R.E.D.? Get mine too while your at it."

While they were getting their gear Billy looked at Damien with an anxious look on his face. "Damien, you don't think we are going to get in any trouble do you? You know how tongue tied I can get when put under pressure."

"Don't worry, Billy. I think that we just have to give our story of how we found it and what we remember seeing inside. And look at it this way, we are going to get out of the weather for a while and even get a chance for a hot shower for the first time in how many weeks?"

It turned out that they did indeed need to take the Jeep back to the base since that was the closest transportation currently available. Master Sergeant Martinez assigned one of the airmen from the crew to drive them to the base and then return to the crew's location. During the four hour drive back to the base, Damien and Billy slept in the rear of the Jeep while Captain Thomas rode in the front with Airman Alex Moore.

When they got to the base, Damien and Billy were hoping to get a quick bite to eat and a hot shower before the briefing but were ushered straight into the General's office. It was a tight fit inside the office with the General, his 2IC Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lynch, Captain Thomas, Billy, and Damien as well as a T.V. monitor on a rollaway cart. Damien and Billy stood at attention to either side of Captain Thomas as he reported them in. "Captain Sinclair Thomas with Senior Airman William Hunt and Airman First Class Damien Gordon reporting as ordered, General," he said with a smart salute.

"Thank you for getting here as fast as you did, Captain. Please sit down all of you," General Grier told them. "What you are about to be told cannot be discussed outside of this room, gentlemen. You were told when you were called in that the cavern entrance has collapsed, yes?" seeing their nods he continued, "Well, further evidence points to it not being due to a natural cause as first thought."

Lieutenant Colonel Lynch continued the briefing, "Dr. Jackson asked us to place several wireless closed-circuit cameras in the caverns to watch for any changes during storms. One of the cameras caught the silhouette of someone entering the cave and then leaving about 15 minutes later. An hour later the water in the chamber on the right started to rise and then flooded the outer chamber which then washed out the entrance."

"We wouldn't have found this out, as all of the camera equipment was destroyed by the water and subsequent cave-in. However, as the cave-in was occurring the cameras were transmitting that hour's download to the satellite server," General Grier put in. "We just got satellite's download this morning. Go ahead and start it, Colonel."

As it was starting, Damien jumped up to dim the lights. On the screen they watched the scene play out with the image of cavern wall displaying the Ancient writing there, it automatically switched to the image of a shadow appearing on the wall next to the main cavern entrance. As they watched, a silhouette crossed the view of the next camera's display. There were several minutes of various camera views as the cameras continued with the prescribed routine, then the same view displaying the silhouette leaving the cavern.

Lieutenant Colonel Lynch pressed a button to fast forward to the scene of the water rising and as the entrance washed out the display became static as the cameras were damaged by the water and debris, one by one. Then Lieutenant Colonel Lynch rewound to the image of the silhouette and paused the image.

"Wow, that definitely looks suspicious, doesn't it?" breathed Captain Thomas. "Is it safe to assume that you are having the recording enhanced in order to try to see that guy's face?"

"We have sent a copy back to Stargate Command for analysis. Hopefully Colonel Carter's people can work their magic and get us a clear image," replied the General.

Damien, who was peering closely at the screen suddenly asked, "What's that in his hand?"

"That's another part of the puzzle that we are hoping the Carter's people can enlighten us with. He seems to have an odd shaped head too, maybe night vision goggles or the like." replied Lt. Colonel Lynch.

"Could you replay that part in slow motion, Colonel?" asked Captain Thomas.

Lt. Colonel glanced toward General Grier for permission and seeing his motion to go ahead did so. During the slow motion replay, Billy noticed a flash of lightning that briefly illuminated the cave, "Sir, could you pause it right at the lightning flash?" Then looking as close as he could at the screen he groaned, "You know, I thought that I could recognize him for a moment but it's gone now."

"Really? Well, we are just going to have to look at the colonies' personnel files together aren't we, Mister Hunt?" said Lt Colonel Lynch as he eyed Billy almost suspiciously.

"Well in the meantime, I need to speak with your Captain privately so you two are dismissed to get some chow and check into the transit barracks for the night. Get plenty of rest as you need to be back to the briefing room at 0600 to go over everything that you remember seeing in that cavern." Getting a questioning glance from his 2IC he added, "You'll also be going over those files with Colonel Lynch here and you'll need to remember everyone that you have talked to about that cavern since it was found. Dismissed!"

With that dismissal, they stood to attention, saluted and left the room. "I hope that there is something good left in the cafeteria, I mean it is almost 2100," Damien said as his stomach started to growl and he smothered a yawn.

Billy just grunted as they made their way to the cafeteria. Eating their chow hungrily left little time for talking, but suddenly Billy dropped his fork and looked up with a bright look on his face. Damien looked at him, "What?"

Billy shook his head as his face fell, "I'm so sure that I recognized that guy, you know but I just can't remember from where, it's just so frustrating."

"Well maybe you'll remember after a good night's sleep," said Damien hopefully.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning the two friends met in the cafeteria for their morning chow at 0530. As they made their way through line, picking their eggs, bacon, toast, fruit and coffee, Damien asked, "So Billy, how'd you sleep? Remember anything?"

"Nah," replied Billy somewhat grumpily, "just some weird dreams."

Sitting down at a table in the corner Damien said, "Do you remember anything specific from the dreams?" then after eating a few bites, "Wow! Have you tasted these eggs? They're really great. I wonder if they've got a new cook in. I wish we had time for seconds, but look how crowded it is suddenly. There must have been a memo about the great cooking."

Feeling crowded Billy frowned and said, "Come on we better head to Lynch's office."

Walking into the conference room, with five minutes to spare, the two found Colonel Lynch sitting at the head of the table with a cup of coffee and a notepad for each of them waiting. "I was hoping you two would be prompt as we have a lot of material to go through. First, I would like each of you to write down, in your own words, the order of events as you remember them, from the discovery of that cavern until you were ordered to report here yesterday morning. Remember to note who you may have discussed it with, and what in particular you discussed. After we go over those, making sure nothing has been left out, I'll let you have a lunch break before we dive into those personnel files to see if you can possibly identify who that might have been in the security cameras image, Mister Hunt."

Making his notes, Damien thought back to what Dr. Jackson had pointed out in the cavern, that it wasn't his fault that Dr. Frasier had died, and wondered if he should put that down also. Then he thought about how animated Dr. Jackson had been when pointing at the different symbols etched into the walls and wondered aloud, "Why would anyone have wanted to destroy the cave anyway. I mean only Dr. Jackson could read it and he had already done so as well as documented all the etchings. So what was the point of obliterating it now?"

"Who knows," moaned Billy as he scratched his head then shook it distractedly. Never good with paperwork, he kept erasing and rewriting his words and sentences. What seemed like days but was really only a couple of hours later, they got up, stretched and delivered their chronological observations to Colonel Lynch's Staff Sergeant's desk, who had already gone to lunch.

When Damien and Billy returned to the conference room after lunch, Colonel Lynch was on the phone with personnel. "Why haven't any of the files been brought to General Grier's conference room as I requested?"

"_Sir, yes we could bring them up there as you requested but I don't believe you want us to set 2500 sometimes rather large files in front of you. We are in the process of implementing a new system, Sir. Most of the information in each person's files in this facility is stored in the computer database," _was the disembodied reply.

"Well how do I access that then?" said an irritated Colonel Lynch.

"_Sir, through any computer that is connected to the Base LAN, Sir. Once you log into the network with your password, Sir, then you type the words 'PERSONNEL DATABASE' into the address line it will bring up search engine. You can then narrow you search as you need, like eliminating, uhm, women, children or different ethnic group as well as arrival date."_

"What about photos? We need to match a still from a security camera."

"_Yes, Sir. Photos are included. You can program the search engine to give the results in photo only. Then it would just be a matter of cycling through however many photos are left. Pressing the info button under the photo will bring up the entire file, Sir"_

"Thank you, Sergeant, you've been quite helpful. Now instead of the week I was thinking this was going to take, it might just be a couple of days at the most," said Colonel Lynch. Turning to Damien and Billy, "O.K. boys, let's see if I can figure this out. Hhmm, P, E, R," he mumbled to himself as he pecked out the letters on his keyboard. "Oh, yea, before I forget again, Gordon, you had a package come in the mail through the Stargate, care package I think. While I get this going, go ahead and get it. It's on my Sergeant's desk."

"Oh cool," said Damien, "I love care packages. I wonder if it's from my Grandpa."

While Damien went to fetch his package and the Colonel was navigating his way through the base network to the database, Billy sat and doodled on his notepad distractedly as he thought about his dreams of the night before. In his dream he had been wandering up and down dark empty corridors, at first he couldn't figure out why, then as caught his reflection off of a window pane set in a door and saw that he was in uniform with a flashlight out, Billy realized that he must be on patrol. When he had rounded the next corner, Billy found himself in front of a locked door which had the words **DANGER - WARD D** with **ALL VISITORS CHECK IN WITH GUARD STATION BEFORE ENTERING** below that. Just as he had swiped his pass card and the door started to open Billy had awoken. Frustrated with the memory, Billy ripped the page off of the notepad, crumpled it into a ball and threw it toward the trashcan, which happened to be across the doorway from him.

"Whoa, friendly fire," chuckled Damien walking through the door. Stooping to pick it up off the floor he said, "Looks like you missed though. Time to hit the target range again, huh?" Seeing that Billy was still in a bad mood, Damien shrugged and bent to open his package. "Hey look. It is from my Grandpa. He always sends the best stuff. Look Oreos." Damien pulled out five packages of the cookies and set them on the table. Then diving further into the box he pulled out several Sci-Fi magazines as well what looked like several CD cases and some Audio books. "I didn't know that there were new PERN books out, wow, it looks like Anne McCaffery's son is gonna carry on the family tradition and keep the PERN stories going. Cool," mumbled Damien reading the backs of the Audio books.

"Hey I didn't know you liked to read Anne McCaffery." questioned Billy. "There was a girl in high school who would read everything by her she could get her hands on, you know. She would even re-read them over and over if she couldn't find any new. I wonder what happened to her." said Billy. "Hhhmmm what was her name? Jamey something, I think. It started with an "S" I think, Salinger! Yeah that's it! Jamey Salinger."

"Did you say 'Jamey Salinger'?" asked Damien incredulously. "That's gotta be a coincidence, because I just met a 'Jamey Salinger'. She's-"

"Right behind you," said the tall red-headed woman in an Air Force uniform, who was walking through the door with a message in her hand. "Colonel, excuse me, but this just came in for you, Sir," she said as they promptly jumped out of the door way to let her through.

"Oh, thank you, Sergeant," said Colonel Lynch absentmindedly as he read the message.

"Hi, Billy, I haven't seen you since graduation. I'd ask you what you've been up to since then, but it's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Jamey said while the Colonel was occupied.

"Hey, Jamey, yeah long time no see, you know. Guess you've done well, what with being a Staff Sergeant already, you know," Billy replied to her, gesturing to the rank on her sleeve.

"Yeah, that, ha-ha, well you remember that I always did well in school and stuff, well I continued that in basic training and was the top of my class. They gave me an automatic promotion straight to Airman and then again to Airman First Class after the next school," she said modestly.

"Cool and congrats. I wish I had been better at studying, you know, but I just couldn't seem to stay focused."

"Well, I got to go back to work, maybe I'll catch up with you later," Jamey said as she noticed that the Colonel was done with the message. With a small wave, she left the room.

"Wow, you've got to be kidding me. I can already hear 'It's a small world' ringing in my head," Damien exclaimed.

"Hmm, O.K. if that's the way it gotta be than that's the way it is. Alright Airmen, Colonel Carter will be transmitting her findings via video teleconference first thing in the morning our time. She can't come in person because SG1 is preparing to leave on their mission to search for some Ancient device or another," Colonel Lynch told them when we finished the message.

"Hopefully we won't still be here and will find that match quickly or at least in time to get a good nights rest," said Damien brightly with a quick glance at Billy.

"Yeah and maybe I won't have such weird dreams," grumbled Billy sourly.

Hours later, and with eyes and necks aching from staring at a computer screen, all three stood and stretched, deciding that it was long past time for a break and left for the cafeteria for their evening chow. While eating Damien asked, "So how many do you think we have gone through now, Sir?"

"Well, I would say that we average 1 photo per minute, which would make that 60 per hour and we just spent the last 5 hours looking so that adds up to 300 so far. However even with our eliminating certain variables such as women and children, new arrivals and even the different ethnics we still had close to 1500 pictures to look through, meaning-"

"Meaning we still have almost 1200 to go, which means –" Damien interrupted.

"Which means," continued Colonel Lynch with a slight scowl at Damien, "that we need either to speed up or narrow our search a little more because we are looking at 20 more hours of this."

Billy groaned at that because he had been looking back and forth between them trying keep up with their math in his head. "Too bad we couldn't have a couple more people, you know, to look with more computers set up to review the pictures, Sir," he asked.

"Yes, more people would help, but we need to keep who knows about this to a minimum for now," replied the Colonel.

"What about people who already know, Sir?" asked Billy again, "you know, like your Sergeant and Captain Thomas?"

"Yeah, and if we had 5 people with their own screens to look at then we only got around 4 more hours and that is only worst case because we might find a match before then," stated Damien matter-of-factly.

"I can work with that idea, Gordon; I'll have Sgt. Salinger set up the conference room for 5 workstations, while I bring in Captain Thomas from his temporary base quarters, although I think he has been itching to acquire more people for his crew. Well that would just have to wait, because he already is involved with this," acknowledged Colonel Lynch as he left to organize everything needed.

"But it was my idea," complained Billy as he left.

"Sorry, Billy," Damien said as he noticed his friend's reaction. "I didn't know he was going to give me the credit."

"Well you didn't stop him or correct him either, did you?" replied Billy crankily.

"Jeez, Billy, didn't you see him just leave? I wasn't given even half a chance. You sure are in a bad mood today. I'll see you later. I'm gonna go get my package and take it to our barracks room, then I'll meet you back at Lynch's office." Then with a quick grin he stole one of Billy's cookies and took his tray to the kitchen and placed it into the sink.

Sitting there lost in his own thoughts, Billy didn't even notice as someone brushed past him. "Yeah, I know that Lynch wants us back to try to finish tonight so we can be ready for Colonel Carter's briefing in the morning." He said, not even realizing that Damien had left. Looking around the room for him, he was startled to find a piece of paper folded in half on his tray. Curiously, Billy opened the page to find 'SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS ARE IN STORE IF YOU CONTINUE ON THIS COURSE' written in bold letters in the center of the paper.

Slowly, Billy rose and turned around, while holding paper in his hand. Seeing that no one was looking at him, he numbly reread the paper and then folded it and placed into his shirt pocket. Almost in shock, he also took his tray into the kitchen to be washed, but as he was entering the kitchen, the door swung straight into him slamming him almost comically into the adjoining wall, knocking him unconscious. Those still left in the cafeteria rushed to him to see if he was o.k. and unnoticed one hand reached into his shirt pocket and removed one piece of paper and quickly left.


End file.
